A Second Chorus (1940)

Several classic films have the story of two guys fighting for the attention of one girl. Usually the guys are a little childish and do stupid stuff to each other to make the other look bad to the girl. Well, A Second Chorus is exactly like that, but not only are the two guys fighting for the attention of the one girl they are also fighting for attention of band leader Artie Shaw. Silly, yes I know I just finished sitting through the film.

            Danny O’Neill (Fred Astaire) and Hank Taylor (Burgess Meredith) have been in a college band for the past seven years. The only reason they have been in the college band for so long is because they have been failing all their classes purposely. At a gig one night Danny notices a woman making eyes at him. Hank also takes notice of the woman and he likes her. After Danny performs his number he goes over to the woman whose name is Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard). Turns out, Ellen is from a collections agency and she hands him a summons under the table.

            The following day, Danny and Hank go to the collections office to try to sweet talk their way out of paying. They both flirt with Ellen like little school boys. The collections agent tells them that one of them bought a group of Encyclopedias seven years prior and never paid for it. Hank and Danny want Ellen to be their secretary so they mess with the collector that Ellen put them up to try to bribe him. The guy gets upset he fires Ellen and throws the two men out of his office. Danny and Hank then offer Ellen a job as their band’s secretary.

            As soon as she gets to the school Ellen is on the phone booking the band bigger and better gigs. Whoever she speaks to Ellen puts on an act and talks the band up to fit the venues and the owners. The band eventually gains such a reputation that word gets round to band leader Artie Shaw (playing himself). The school band kind of becomes a rival to Artie.

            At the end of the school year Hank becomes upset because he passed a class and he now has to graduate. Danny admits to Ellen that he had a hand in helping Hank pass by writing a paper so that he could be alone with her. Hank gets Danny back by proving to the dean of the school that Danny, not him, was the one who wrote the paper. Now Danny has been kicked out of the school and neither one of them can be in the band.

            Artie wants to see the band. Danny and Hank duel it out with their trumpets to try to get Artie’s attention. Unfortunately their dueling is to no avail as Artie just wanted to speak to Ellen. He wanted to speak to the band’s manger since she had been getting them so many gigs. Artie wants Ellen to be his new manager and she accepts. At the station the following day Ellen really does not want to leave for New York City. She and Danny kind of wait for the other to say the magic words “I love you don’t go” but neither of them say the words.

            At the station Danny and Hank claimed they were going back to their hometowns to work at their families’ businesses. They both go to New York City to see Artie just after Ellen convinced Artie to let them audition for the band. Danny gets to the audition before Hank. He messes with Hank by telling the doorman to not let Hank in. Hank catches on so he messes with the notes for the song Danny is going to play on stage. Danny gets Hank back by pulling him off the stage in the back and the two of them get into a major brawl. Ellen is furious with both of them and Artie does not even want to hear their names.

            The same night at the same club where Danny and Hank audition, there is an older gentleman named Lester Chisholm who has been at several performances. Artie is a little unsettled with Lester always being there so he has Ellen go over to see what Lester’s deal is. The older man reveals that he just really likes music and that when he was younger he was forced into the family business instead of following his passion for music. Ellen gets Lester to back a concert for Artie. The only reason Lester is even backing a concert is because he believes he will be able to play his mandolin at the show.

            Danny tries to see Ellen one night. He calls to her apartment asking to come up and she tells him that he cannot it is not a good time. Lester is in her room to go over the concert. Danny thinks Hank is in her room so he leaves the building and climbs up to her room. He hides under her bed in her room where Hank also happens to be because he though Danny was in the room. They both think Ellen is being taken advantage of by an older man so they devise a plan where Danny distracts Ellen and Hank comes out of the room pretending to be her husband. Lester runs out of the room and pulls out of backing the show.

            Danny promises Ellen he will have the whole situation fixed with Lester in one hour. He goes to see Lester with Hank claiming they are there to clear Ellen’s name. They make up a song for Lester to think he can play on the mandolin for the show. They do that so they can be the only ones who can play the song and for Lester to insist on it being in the show. Danny goes to see Artie and Ellen and he makes up a song on the spot. Artie likes the song and sees if there will be a spot in the show for it. Both Danny and Hank want Lester to stay away from the show. Danny wants both of them to stay away so he has Hank keep an eye on Lester. Hank says he will try only if Danny can get him a place in the orchestra.

            Things happen that I cannot really remember. Danny gets in the show with a different number. Hank and Lester get left at the hotel passed out on the couch from exhaustion from practicing nonstop. Danny of course winds up with Ellen.

            All the praise goes to Paulette Goddard. She is such an underrated classic actress. I loved her with Fred Astaire. Goddard had this wonderful tough chick attitude in pretty much all her films and she definitely had it here. When Astaire worked with Ginger Rogers she always gave his characters such an attitude. Her attitude was snarky and sassy. Goddard’s, as I said, was tough chick but not snarky or sassy. I liked seeing that kind of attitude against Astaire’s character’s boyishness and annoyingness. I have no idea if any of that made sense. I guess to put it plainly Goddard’s attitude was perfect compared to Astaire’s annoyingness. Burgess Meredith really does nothing for me and never does in whatever film I see him in.

            This film what to me is an absolutely underrated Fred Astaire dance number. The number is called “Dig It” and he dances it with Paulette Goddard. I am just going to go right ahead and say that Goddard is one of Astaire’s best dancing partners. The woman is not out of sync with Astaire for one moment. She also looks like she had a blast dancing. The song is so much fun. The horn section on this song fantastic I love listening to it. I actually get the horn and the drumbeat mixed with it stuck in my head all the time. I actually watched “Dig It” by itself a few years ago and I never forgot it I loved it so much. I am sure that is mostly due to Goddard just being beyond brilliant with her dancing. And also the horns and drum mix as I have mentioned.

            A Second Chorus was alright. Fred Astaire’s and Burgess Meredith’s characters were so annoying. I will say that Danny O’Neill is a character that is not a typical one for Astaire. In many of his films with Ginger Rogers he was usually the love sick little boy chasing the girl. He is the same way in A Second Chorus but his character was much crueler and devilish than his other love sick little boy roles. It was interesting for me to see Artie Shaw in a film. I love Ava Gardner and she was married to him for a while. I had no idea he was even in a film and I had never heard any of his music before this. It is hard to imagine Shaw being such an ass to Ava and even to Lana Turner whom he married later on after seeing him in this film but I will believe it.  A Second Chorus is worth watching if you love and adore Paulette Goddard or if you want to see Fred Astaire in an atypical role.

 

On Our Merry Way (1948)

I was reading a review for On Our Merry Way and the reviewer said that the film is like when you read a book that you cannot get into but you have to see the whole way through to see how it ends even though the ending is predictable. I completely agree with argument on that review. The only reason I even bothered to watch this film was because Paulette Goddard was the first billed. I adore Paulette Goddard and I have already watched her in anything and two of three of those anythings have not been good. On Our Merry Way included. She was not even in the film that long.

            On Our Merry Way is about a newspaper writer named Oliver Pease ( Burgess Meredith). Well, he is not really a reporter he writes the pages for lost pets. He has never told his wife of seven months that he writes ads for lost pets. He has Martha (Goddard) believe that he is the roving reporter making fifty bucks a week. Martha gives Oliver the question for what she thinks is his next roving report- “Has a child ever influenced your life?”

            Oliver goes into work and pretends to be someone from the head office and convinces his boss to let him write the roving section. Before Oliver walks out the door he is hunted down by a goon working for a bookie. Oliver had placed a few bets and lost a lot of money. So not only is he running around town looking for stories he is now running away from some goon trying not to get the crap beat out of him.

            Trying to get away from the goon he runs into a bar. He sees two musicians Lank (Henry Fonda) and Slim (James Stewart) and asks them a question. They go into the story of how their car broke down when they were on the road. They came up with the idea to hold a band contest but the mayor’s kid that they ran into said his father would not have any because the kid would never win. Lank and Slim plan to have the kid win so they can keep the money from the show but the mechanic has another idea. His “baby” daughter Gloria is a beautiful young lady who can play all kinds of instruments. Lank and Slim were going to be the judges so the mayor’s son would win but the mechanic found Harry James and had him be the judge. So obviously the whole thing for Slim and Lank goes south and the “baby” Gloria winds up winning and going out on the road with the band.

            The next person Olivier runs into is a priest at a church. Reverend John B. Dunne (Charles Laughton) regales the story how a number of years ago he realized he was not a very good priest. People were leaving his church and he could not get through to anyone. He decided he was going to resign and leave the parish. As he was waiting a little boy came up to him saying that John had to follow him someone needed him. John was reluctant at first but he followed the boy to a house. Before John could get the boy’s name he disappeared. John was brought upstairs to a man who seems to have asthma and thought he was going to die. The man was extremely angry with John for being a priest he did not believe in religion and is outrageously bitter. The man calls John weak and John agrees with him but the man says something else that makes John turn around and begin to read the story from Kings about David and Goliath. The man is able to calm down as he listens to the story and he feels better. When John goes to leave he sees a photograph of the little boy he saw outside. The man says the little boy was his son and that he died. After this John went back to his home and tore up the letter and ever since then he has become a better priest.

            The last person Olivier comes across is a guy named Al (Fred MacMurray). Al and his friend Floyd were traveling down to Florida when they had gotten arrested and were brought over the county line by two sheriffs. When the sheriffs leave Al and Floyd think they are being held up by a gangster. They turn around and see it is a little kid called Sniffles who likes to think he is a gangster. He takes the two men to his mine where he has been living. Al asks if he has any family and he says only a rich uncle who does not like him very much. This gives Al the idea to try to find out who the uncle is so they can get money for bringing the kid back. For the few days Floyd and Al are with Sniffles he tortures them to no end with his crazy tricks. Al eventually goes into town and finds Sniffles’s uncle. The uncle has been driven to insanity by Sniffles and does not want the kid back. After some negotiation and lying Al gets Sniffles back to his uncle but the uncle wants to bring Floyd and Al up on extortion. Sniffles suggests they work their money off and Al has no problem with that once he sees the sister.

            Oliver rushes back to the office but his boss has found him out. He tears up Oliver’s write up for the Roving Reporter and fires him. As soon as he steps out of the building the goon beats up. The police bring Oliver back to his apartment. Martha brings him inside and tells him she knew all along that he worked for the lost pets pages and she was trying to push him to make more money. She tells him the reason she pushed him and gave him the question was because she is going to have a baby. In the midst of their furniture being taken away the boss comes in after having read Oliver’s report and tells him he loved it and will take him back.  

            So there you go now you do not have to watch the film. Please spare yourself the one hundred and five minutes watch another film that is better.

            Paulette Goddard only got top billing because she was married to Burgess Meredith at the time and he produced the film. She is only in it for the first ten minutes if that and the last ten minutes if that. Henry Fonda and James Stewart seemed a little out of their element doing comedy but I loved them they were so funny together. Dorothy Lamour played the “baby” in their story. I have never seen her in anything before she was not bad. Charles Laughton’s scenes depending on which version you see were originally cut because it was not comedic enough with the rest of the film. Fortunately I saw the version where his scene was kept in and I really liked him and the scene. It was the only watchable one. Fred MacMurray’s part was boring as sin. I think by the time his scene came on I had enough of the film.

            On Our Merry Way was very boring but I had to finish it. I knew what the ending was right from the moment Paulette Goddard gives Burgess Meredith the question so no shock there. Unless you are huge fans of Paulette Goddard, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Dorothy Lamour, Charles Laughton, Fred MacMurray or Burgess Meredith absolutely skip the film.  

The Sentinel (1977)

“Rebecca and Malcolm Stinnett. Sell. Gerde Engstrom. Emma and Lillian Clotkin. Anna Clark. All people the Parker girl said she met.”
“All killers, all dead. She went to a party with eight dead murderers.”

            Rarely do I watch any kind of movie that was made past 1960. I cannot stand many movies made in the 1970s (alright except for Star Wars but who does NOT like Star Wars? And I have no choice but to like the trilogy my brothers watch it all the time. Oh and I like Dirty Harry too that is really good and Murder on the Orient Express). I find after the studio system fell the glamour went out of movies. Anyway, so I have The Sentinel a chance and that as only because Ava Gardner had a part in it and to my discovery so did many other actors. It is almost like a who’s who of acting.

            Alison Parker (Cristina Raines) is a young model. She has been living with her boyfriend Michael who is a lawyer. He wants her to marry him but his wife died recently and there was a big scandal with that and she tried to kill herself afterwards. Cristina wants to move out of the apartment she shares with Michael so she can think things over and be by herself. With the help of a woman named Miss Logan (Ava Gardner) she finds a nice old apartment building in Brooklyn facing the water.

            Alison likes the apartment very much. It is furnished with old furniture and nice and spacious. One by one she meets her neighbors and they are all very odd. An old man named Chase (Burgess Meredith) is obsessed with his cat going so far as to throw it a birthday party and there are two lesbian dancers living downstairs from her. A blind and very old priest lives upstairs and constantly stares out the window. Not long after she is settled Alison begins to hear things in the middle of the night and she faints and does not feel well when she is doing shoots.

            Things turn really creepy and scary for Alison. One night she believes she stabbed someone and runs out into the street in a fit and has to be put into the hospital. The police (one of them includes a young Christopher Walken) investigate what happened to Alison because they suspect Michael is behind something (they feel he killed his wife). She and Michael individually find out the Catholic Church is behind what is going on with her and they are not good.

            Alright so I did not really explain the plot but I cannot give the whole thing away. The movie was alright, the story was so-so. Someone online gave a review saying that if you like The Sixth Sense you will like this movie. Well let me tell you The Sentinel is nothing like The Sixth Sense and I was laughing throughout the movie.

            The cast was interesting. I am saying interesting because it was not the greatest and it is odd that all these people are in it. Ava Gardner as Miss Logan added a touch of glamour to a crappily made movie. I mean come she’s Ava Gardner no matter how old the woman got she was still gorgeous (her voice was deeper if you just heard her voice you would not believe it was her and the effects of her hard living were starting to show). Burgess Meredith was a creepy bastard, he reminded me of the old men that flirt with me when I work (being a hostess in a restaurant is so much fun *sarcastic tone*). A young Beverly D’Angelo plays one of the lesbian dancers and I will never be able to look at her in Christmas Vacation the same way ever again. Eli Wallach is the older detective. Jerry Orbach is in one scene as a director. Jeff Goldbloom is a photographer in a few scenes. Martin Balsalm gets one of the top billings but he is only in one scene for like two seconds. Cristina Raines was good I have heard of her but never seen her in anything. She was very very pretty.

            This is one movie that was made in the ‘70s that had all these old stars because there was a renewed appreciation for old Hollywood. I feel they put all these old actors in films because they knew they were better than the ones around and they knew that most of them were getting old and would not be around anymore. Or better reason they knew they would draw audiences.

            The Sentinel is not the greatest of movies ever made. It is one of the movies that are so bad they are so good. I plan on getting on DVD so me and my friends can laugh watching it together. This is one movie I would not mind being remade it had potential to be good but it fell flat on the scary and it kind of dragged.